Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Colossians chapter 1. And
we'll read just the first part of verse 5. And it is two words
in that portion that's on my spirit. For the hope which is
laid up for you in heaven. The whole verse goes on, whereof
ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel. But it is these two words for
you. Colossians 1 and verse 5. It may be in coming to the house
of God, and the burden of a soul to hear the Word this evening. That your desire is that you
might know the blessings of the Gospel are for me. You might have been saying, you
might have been praying that those blessings be for me. Lord, that eternal life might
be for me. The Lord has died for me. And may the answer be in the text,
it is for you. How significant, how important
for that. This is someone else saying to
you what is yours. is not you taking a blessing
or a portion for yourself, but someone else is saying this is
for you. For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven. Imagine if you as a church were
the one receiving this letter. Not the Colossians. But you were
receiving it. And you see how he addresses
them to the saints and faithful brethren in Christ which are
at Colossae. Change that to Swayze. Grace be unto you and peace from
God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. And he's giving thanks
for them. We give thanks to God and the
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you. And then for the hope which is laid
up for you in heaven. He is telling them through this
letter that these blessings are for them. It is, of course, a great blessing
and needful for us to see for ourselves and to feel and know
for ourselves that we are blessed. But when it comes through the
inspired Word of God, and we must remember this, this is not
just written. for the Colossians. The Church
of God to the end of time can't think, well, this letter was
just confined to them. What He is saying is just for
them. It will be for poor sinners,
for the Spirit to take this Word and say that these blessings,
they are for you. I remember reading quite a few
years ago now when Savannah Education Trust started to build these
schools in Ghana and there was a lad there that was very crippled
and he saw the buildings and he saw the schools and he never
ever thought that it was for him until they came to him and
said, this is for you. You can go to this school. The
difference that that made to him. He'd been looking upon it
that this was for everyone else, but not him. But those two words,
what a difference it made. It is for you. And may the Lord speak that through
the Word this evening. This is what we need, the Lord
to take His Word and say this is for you. This what is here,
these promises, these blessings, they are for you. Dear friends, covet earnestly
the best gifts and especially that which does bring the blessings
of the Gospel home to you. What if it was put the other
way? And Satan might suggest it the
other way. But what if it was? These things
are not for you. The Lord will never, never say
that to a poor sinner. A poor sinner who feels and knows
their malady and their need, He will never tell them that
the Gospel is not for them. It is for sinners. And it is
for those that feel their sinnership. And you might say, well, how
can this word here, how can we this evening be spoken to us or to me to know
that it is for you? And we can because The Apostle
does not just write to the Colossians and give us, who read this letter,
no reason for him saying what he is saying. He does. I want to look at two points this
evening. Firstly, how we know that the
blessings are for us. So that this word for you, we
may know that that is for us, for me. And then secondly, those blessings. There is one, of course, in this
verse for you. But there are several others
through scripture as well that I'd like to bring forth this
evening, because this is not just an isolated verse that is
speaking of something for you, for poor sinners, for the people
of God. It is a feature that goes through
the Word, other blessings as well. And so may the Lord help
us to look at these things, and may it be a concern if you've
never been concerned whether these things are for you or not. Perhaps there are some of you
here. You've never really thought, are those blessings and things
that are spoken of in the Word of God for me or not? Is redemption for me? Is heaven
for me? Perhaps you never thought about
it, never prayed about it, never asked the Lord. Lord, bring a
concern in that way, that you might know it is for
you. But firstly, how do we know? Well, I want to confine how we
know to the context, to what Paul is actually bringing and
telling these Colossians. This is what he is looking on
from the outside, he's seeing them. He's seeing what is going
on with them. It's like when Barnabas went
to Antioch, they'd heard that they'd believed in Antioch and
he went and he saw the grace of God and he was glad. Tells us something about real
religion, isn't it? It can be observed, and especially
those that know the Lord, they can recognise where the Lord
is working. Well, the first thing is this
in verse 4. Since we heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus, They had faith in Christ Jesus and Paul had
heard this. They were not following idols,
they were not following other things, they had faith in Christ
Jesus. I heard a minister, not from
our denomination, but he was speaking of Hebrews 11 and he
was speaking of those who did great things by faith. But the
one thing he left out, the main thing through that whole chapter,
was that they were looking to Christ. By faith they saw Christ. They did not see him come, but
they believed that he would come, that they without us might not
be made, not be perfect, says Paul. And to have faith, how
vital it is. Faith is the substance of things
not seen. Without faith it is impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that he is, that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek
him. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ
that gives faith. In Romans we read, the faith
of him. Other translations say translated
faith in Christ. But the blessing for the people
of God is that the faith that they have is of Christ. It comes from Him, and yes, it
does lead to Him, but as soon as you put it just faith in,
then it leaves room for a duty faith or some supposed thing
from ourselves. No. When the Lord quickens into
life, when he gives the new birth, he gives faith instantly. Faith cometh by hearing, and
hearing by the Word of God. And in almost, you might say,
a loop situation, we read of those that the Word did not profit
them, because it was not mixed with faith in them that heard
it. You say, how can we get faith from the Word, when we need faith
to get blessings from the Word. But that is the work of God,
isn't it? How many things in creation,
and you think of a baby formed in the womb, it can't have one
bit formed without the other. Everything has to happen at once,
otherwise it doesn't live. Or the idea of evolution that
slowly these things happen, cannot possibly do so, and in the work
of grace with the sinner as well. When the Lord says, I give unto
them eternal life, He gives it to them. And they've got life,
they've got faith, they've got new ears, new eyes. That which
was dead, they are alive. And the Apostle here, he says,
and again, it's personal, isn't it? Your faith, not someone else's,
not borrowed, The Lord has given it to you. Here is this first
beautiful reason why it can be said that it is laid up for you
in heaven, because the Lord has given faith. He's given you to
see what countless millions in this world will never see, and
never do see, and we do not see by nature. And that faith is in Christ Jesus. Your faith, heard of your faith
in Christ Jesus. Let's put it this way as well. What is bound up with having
faith in the Lord Jesus? is not having any trust or thought
in salvation in ourselves, but in the Lord. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. That is where faith looks,
solely to the Lord. He which hath begun a good work
in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And it is
faith that lays hold upon the Lord, and trust in the Lord. And the Apostle here had heard,
he could see, the Colossians had that. Now the Spirit bear witness,
whether or not God has given you faith in Christ Jesus. Or whether you dare to even say
before God, I have not been given faith. Some poor souls, if you
put it the other way around, they can see it clearer. They
might tremble to say that they have faith in Christ. If you
put it the other way, you try and say that you have no faith
in Christ. That soul who fears the Lord
will say, I can't say that. I can't deny what I hope the
Lord has done for me. Now that's the first thing. The
second is in the same verse as it goes on, verse 4. And the love which ye have to
all the saints, John in his epistles, he says, we know that we have
passed from death unto life because we love the brethren. And the
apostle is backing that up exactly with the Colossians here. They
have a love to the saints. Don't ever bypass that, dear
friends. If God is shaping you and I,
to be in that multitude above, to be a living stone in Salem's
walls above. He will bring us to love those
that will be living stones in that same building. Being let
go, they went to their own company. And it's good when we can even
have a contrast and say one time, I didn't desire the company of
God's people. I didn't love them. I didn't
like their conversation, but now I do. It might be you can
say, not even of God's people living. It may be in unregeneracy
you didn't like, and of course over in Melbourne we just had
the red sermons for years and years. I used to hate Mr. Fulpon. Long sermons, that's
all the reason why I hated them. I never listened to them. But
when the Lord called me by grace, I loved His sermons, and I loved
Him for those truths that were set forth. And it's good sometimes
when you see a difference, that once you did not like that person
or what they said or what they wrote, but now you do. And in
fact, you actually love them. You love them for the truth's
sake. And sometimes you can love them and One of the deacons at
Melbourne once said this concerning the former pastor there. He said
he had some things that were hard to get on with. But he said,
I loved him for the truth's sake. And it's good when we can look
over infirmities and sometimes differences in secondary things. and you see the grace of God
and you love them for the image of Christ in them. You know,
Job said to his friends, he says, why persecute thou me, seeing
the root of the matter is in me. That's vital, isn't it? The root of the matter. And when
we see that, when we see that grace and we love that person,
we love them that are the Lord's people, the love which you have
to all the saints. Do you love the Lord's people? Do you love those that have been
called, that honour his name, that walk in his ways, that speak
of his ways? When they come to visit you,
do you look forward to them coming? Do you like what you hear they
say? Do you like their prayers? Feel drawn to them sometimes? Well, here's this mark that Paul
sets before these Colossians, and as we said at the beginning,
this is to the people of God to the end of time. The Lord
will always have his dear people that in his work in them he has
brought them to love his other people. May you, may I have that evidence,
that witness. But then we have another one
in the next verse, verse 5. The truth of the gospel He says,
for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye
heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel which is
come unto you. Put it in these words, the truth
of the gospel which is come unto you. Pilate asked our Lord, what is
truth? Our Lord says in John 14, I am
the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. The truth of the gospel. What
is the truth of the gospel? Many things could be said, but
if you put it, sinners obtaining salvation through Christ Jesus. Hymn writer says, sinners can
say, and none but they, how precious is the Saviour. His name shall
be called Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. Gospel simply means good news,
and it is good news for sinners. He sung that beautiful hymn to
start, didn't we, on mercy, the theme of my song. You think of the publican, God
be merciful to me a sinner. Mercy through blood I make my
plea, God be merciful to me. It's a blessed thing to be brought
to hear the word of truth of the gospel, but more than that,
to actually come unto you. To come unto you. You think of
those two on the way to Emmaus. They heard the Lord Jesus Christ
telling them the truth of the Gospel. They said, we trusted
it should have been He that should have redeemed Israel. They'd
seen Him, Christ crucified, they'd seen what had happened, but they
didn't know the truth of the Gospel. Ought not Christ to have
suffered these things and to enter into his glory, beginning
at Moses, all the prophets, he opened up to them in all the
Scriptures the things concerning himself? And as they heard that
sermon, did it leave them unmoved, unaffected? Afterwards they said,
did not our heart burn within us while he taught with us by
the way and when he opened to us the scriptures. So what Paul
says to the Colossians here, which is, come unto you, those
two on the way to Emmaus would have said, it came unto us. And it burned our heart, it touched
our heart. This was good news, it embraced
us. Has that come to you like that? Have you read the word? Heard
it preached in that way? That your heart has leapt as
you've heard that good news of salvation? God will provide himself
a lamb. The Lord Jesus Christ is provided. He's Christ that died, yea rather,
risen again, sitteth at the right hand of the throne of God. Have
these things warmed our hearts? Has that been made precious to
us? This is what Paul is saying the
Colossians had had. But then we have another one
in verse 6. As it is in all the world, and
bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you. And it is since
the day ye heard of it and knew the grace of God in truth. But just these words first. Bringeth forth fruit. You think of the parable of the
sower. The sower went forth to sow. Was there fruit from that which
was just fell upon the wayside? No. What about that on stony
ground? No. What about that amongst thorns? None. But that into good ground,
it brought forth fruit in varying degrees. What are the fruits? We're told of the fruits of the
flesh, of pride and lust and anger, adultery, murder, all
of those things that come forth from the heart, but we're also
told of the fruits of the spirit, which is love, joy, peace in
believing, We have those fruits of grace, endurance, those fruits
that accompany salvation. Our Lord says, From me is thy
fruit found. And a word encouraging to dear
aged friends, they shall still bring forth fruit in old age. We are not to think that fruit
is just things that can be done when we're nice and healthy and
strong and can't when we're laid up on a bed of affliction. Because when you see one that
is laid on a bed of affliction or in increased years and very
infirm and when you see patience and endurance and submission
and love and concern and prayer, you start to see fruits there
that perhaps couldn't be seen when one is like Martha, flitting
about here and doing this and that. Yes, towards people even in affliction
and helpless, they bring forth fruit, because it comes from
Him. It just might not be in the way or in looking like we think
it should be. But the Scriptures are very clear,
there will be that fruit. And those spiritual fruits and
blessings are beautiful to see. You might say Job started to
have them when all things had gone wrong and he says, The Lord
gave and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of
the Lord. What gave him that submission
and bowing before God's hand? James says that ye have heard
of the patience of Job and the end of the Lord. Every grace and every favour
comes to us through Jesus' precious blood. Sometimes the Lord, to
highlight those roots, he leads us to ourselves and then we feel
fretful and angry and completely unsubmissive And then the Lord gives more
grace and changes that. And then we know it doesn't come
from ourselves, it comes from the Lord. And the Lord knows
how to bring forth those fruits. He said of the parable, it was
prepared ground. What's involved in that preparation? You think of it in a natural
sense. If you were that earth and you're
being dug up and tilled and tossed to and fro, there's a lot to
prepare a bit of ground for seed, isn't there? You can quite often overlook
the tribulations and trials that the Lord uses to bring forth
fruit to his honour and glory. So that was another mark. Then we have, in the latter end
of verse 6, knew the grace of God in truth. Can we know the grace of God
not in truth or not really? Yes. We are told, but grow in grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. We
are told, by grace ye are saved through faith, and that not of
yourselves, it is the gift of God." And when we think of that
word, growing grace, in our minds we think, well, we're going to
get more and more spiritual, and more and more holy, and more
and more godly. No. Grace is opposite to works. More
and more we'll see our works as poor, worthless, sin-stained,
worth nothing, ashamed of our thoughts, our words, our ways,
and more and more relying upon the grace of God, the free unmerited
favour of God. The longer I live, I believe
the more I see, if ever my poor soul be saved, his Christ must
be the way, and it must be by grace. My best, my all, is stained
and dyed with sin. And when we read here Paul saying
with these Colossians that they knew the grace of God in truth,
he is actually experiencing it, knowing it as it actually is. And he's not just topping up
When we've done all of our good works and we just need a bit
in. No. It's everything to a hell deserving
poor sinner. That is what grace is. The cry, the worship and the
praise, the crown, that grace triumphant reigns. But then we have the love in
the Spirit in verse 8. You also declared unto us your
love in the Spirit. You say, well, we've already
had the love to the brethren, but here is the love in the Spirit. And it's a blessed thing. To
be spiritually minded is life and peace. To be kindly minded
is death. And when we found, like John,
in the Spirit on the Lord's Day, and there is a love, and it is
a love in the Spirit, that spiritual minds, that spiritual love and
walking together is a very sacred thing with the people of God.
You get to, and they're blessed with that Spirit of the Lord
upon them and to walk together. I believe that we mentioned those
two on the way to Emmaus. They did not say, did not our
hearts burn? They said, did not our heart.
They were one spirit. How often you read in the Word
with one mind and one spirit striving together for the hope
of the Gospel. It is the oneness that draws
the people of God together. That was our Lord's desire, that
they might be one as we are one. But then we have one last one
that I mentioned, and you may see others here and throughout
this epistle, but I just want to confine it just to this first
chapter. In verse 13, who hath delivered
us from the power of darkness and hath translated us into the
kingdom of his dear Son." Not speaking of some future time,
he has done it, a change. The Apostle Paul, he could point
to what he was before the Damascus Road and to what he was after.
God had made that difference. He changed him. There's only
two kingdoms. There's not many, there's just
two. The power of darkness translated us into the kingdom
of his dear son. Taken from one, Satan's dominion,
and brought to the other. And this the apostle could say
of these Colossians. Has the Lord done that for us?
Many things in the Gospel, many things in the Word of God are
known by contrast. I've probably said this before,
but I feel it is something that needs to be always impressed.
It runs right through the Word of God. You see Cain and Abel. The Lord doesn't just give Abel
and say to us, this is a right sacrifice, a blood sacrifice,
he gives us a contrast. He gives us our own works, the
fruit of our own labours. No blood. That is not acceptable. That is. We spoke of the publican. Was there only one that was praying
that the Lord says, this is the one that goes down to his house
justifying? No. He tells of another, the
Pharisee. He gives us a contrast. Nearly
every parable the Lord spoke, there's a contrast. There was
in the parable of the cellar, and there is here, and there
is in the lives of the people of God. I am not now what I once
was. The Lord has made a change. If
you have a piece of black paper and you put a bit of coal on
it, there's no contrast, you can't clearly see. You get a
white sheet of paper and you put a bit of coal on it and it
stands out, you can see it. God uses that in the Word of
God. May the Lord use it this evening
and to show you to whom this Word is to come and to come in
this way that it is for you For the hope which is laid up
for you in heaven, you can see it through some of the contrasts
in these things that I've highlighted in this first chapter. Do notice what the inspired Word
of God draws attention to as marking out the people of God,
showing them who they are, showing others who they are, and then
making them the right recipients so that we can say, for the hope
which is laid up for you. So I want to look then secondly
at the, for you, the blessings that are for you. I want to begin
with our text and draw with that to other places. They are all
pointing really to the same place and same blessing. But they all
use the same word, for you. Our text says, for the hope which
is laid up for you in heaven, a hope in heaven. We are saved by hope, Paul says
to the Romans, Romans 8. But hope that is seen is not
hopeful. What a man seeth, why doth he
yet hope for? Good hope, says the hymn writer,
through grace the saints possess the fruit of Jesus' righteousness
and by his Spirit given. And here is a hope. Don't ever
despise if the Lord's raised up for you a hope. Or think it
a small thing to say, I hope. Sometimes we can rise to greater
assurance, but it's a blessed thing to have a hope in heaven. And this is what the apostle
says of them here. It is laid up. It is waiting
for them in heaven, waiting for the time that they shall enter
into this hope. A life beyond the grave, a hope
to be with Christ, which is far better. To be numbered with the
people of God, numbered with them, may I be now and to eternity. That hope which is a lively hope,
a living hope. Hope that will not make the people
of God unashamed. There is a heaven. There is a
real place. The Lord is there. The Lord said
to the dying thief, this day shalt thou be with me in paradise. But we have other places. We
have in Peter's epistle, he writes in his first epistle and chapter
one, he says to an inheritance, he says verse four, incorruptible
and undefiled and that faded not away, reserved in heaven
for you." Same word. For you. He's writing to these
scattered strangers. And he actually adds another
evidence that that is for you. And may this reinforce what we've
already had on our first point. "...who are kept by the power
of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time." by the power of God through faith. The people of God, you
and I, if we are kept, as we come into the house of God, as
we hear the word read and as it is preached, and as faith
is mixed with it, the Lord will use that to keep our souls right
to the end. Blessed be God if we are kept
by that power. Sometimes you can see powers
demonstrated in great strength, but we're coming into springtime,
aren't we? And you tell me that power is
not demonstrated when all over the countryside, with no sound,
no commotion at all, there's springing forth of life and Shoots
and everything is not that power. You try and stop it, you wouldn't
be able to. And so with the word as well,
distilling, softly, gently, coming, entering into the heart, remaining
there, having effect upon our life and conduct, lifting up
our spirits, warming our hearts like the two on the way to Emmaus.
That's how the Lord keeps his people. It's a blessed thing
to be found at the end of the way still in the way. And though
he may have been left like Peter to deny the law three times,
yet afterwards he still loves the Lord. Why? The Lord had prayed for him.
And then we have our Lord Jesus Christ in John 14. I go to prepare
a place for you. Using the same words, for you. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself that
where I am, there ye may be also. These are beautiful words. And
the Lord is saying, for you. Can we think the Lord doesn't
have a people in mind that he's speaking this to? The kingdom
of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth
then that it is. And when the Lord says, for you,
he knows you. He knows those who he's wrought
these things in, a prepared people for a prepared place. I want to go back to Peter in
his first epistle again but this time in chapter 5 and verse 7. We have this beautiful word.
Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you. What a beautiful word. the Good
Shepherd, the Chief Shepherd, caring for his dear people. You think what that means when
that is personal? If we had one that was homeless,
one that was destitute, and you said to them, there is
a person in this town And they will care for you. I will take
you to them. They will give you a house. They
will give you food and raiment for you. What a difference that
that would make. What a difference it is when
we are picked out, pointed out to receive something. At school,
quite often, that might happen. And it makes all the difference
when it is personal. It is for you. And here, the
Lord says he cares. And as a good shepherd, that
is the great mark. He careth for his sheep. He careth
for you, those who have been described in that first chapter
of Colossians. I want to go now to the Gospel
according to Luke. And chapter 22. The Lord's Supper. You know, when the church gathered
for the observance of the Lord's Supper, the Lord said, this do
in remembrance of me. But have we ever thought of those
words that the Lord pronounced when he administered that first
Lord's Supper and of which we also quote when it is observed
among us. In Luke 22 and verse 19, he took
the bread, he took bread and gave thanks and break it and
gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for
you. For you. This do in remembrance
of me. My body. The Lord suffered. His body was broken for his dear
people. For you that have been pointed
out and described that are the right subjects to meet round
the Lord's table. Because what the Lord did at
Calvary was done for them. And every change and blessing
and difference that has been brought in the lives of his people
have flowed forth from what Christ has done for them there. You think of the unity, the love
between the people of God and around the table of the Lord,
they all might be a different age, different experiences, some
called young, some called old, some many years in the way, some
just entered into the way, but all of them have had their sins
put away at the same time by the same dear man on the same
cross, through the same precious blood, all one. It levels everyone round that
table and the Lord says to them all, this is my body which is
given for you. But he doesn't just leave it
there. In verse 20, likewise also the cup after supper saying
this cup is the new testament in my blood which is shed for
you. Particular redemption is a beautiful
doctrine because all that Christ did on Calvary was for you, for
his dear people, not for Judas, not for the loss that some will
say it was just a potential salvation There was a particular love to
all of his dear children when the Lord suffered. Our sins were laid upon him.
He bore them. He felt them. He groaned under
them. He endured the wrath of God in
our place. And so when the Lord's Supper
is administered, we rightly use the Lord's own words. His body
was broken for you. His blood was shed for you. May the Lord bear witness to
His work in the hearts of His people, that there be those of
you who may have started this evening with the prayer, Lord,
assure me of my interest in Thy blood. And you finish. hearing the Lord's
words, that this is for you. May the Lord bless the Word in
that way, with power, with authority, in your souls. Amen.